Our unscientific question, which 14,125 people answered, produced these results:

-- 42 percent said Obama won because of the combination of a stronger economy, a better campaign, his likability, Superstorm Sandy and the debates.

-- The second most popular choice, with 18 percent, was just the stronger economy.

-- Coming in third with a strong 17 percent was "something else entirely."

And "something else entirely" was a hot topic in the comments thread.

-- "Don Matthews: The option not listed is that they trusted Obama more than Romney. One of Obama's unassailable qualities is that he seems truly decent. A candidate that could compete on that level might have had a chance but Romney wasn't it. Every time Romney had a chance to show himself as decent and trustworthy he dropped the ball. He wouldn't show his taxes, he wouldn't tell the details of his plan, and perhaps most damaging of all, he couldn't maintain a single consistent position on anything. We know who Obama is and that's why we voted for him."

-- "Rob Miracle: Honestly, I believe that Romney lost more than Obama won. He had to pander so far right to get the nomination then he had to come back to the middle to get those votes, but this contradictory 'Mitt' couldn't overcome his flip-flops for enough people to believe in him. Had he been able to win the GOP from a moderate platform where he could have stayed on message, he would have gotten more of the middle. The right would have voted for him anyway. This is an effect of the GOP pulling too far to the right."

-- "Kay Patterson: Why the GOP lost last night - overall, Romney and the republicans failed on a catastrophic level to adapt to the changing demographics of this country. Instead of embracing that the US is becoming more diverse, they fought violently against it. They alienated Hispanics, African Americans and women (and those who support them), all of which are important groups that are going to become more important in the coming decades.

"Stripping away the rights of women, who are 53% of the population, is a fast track to defeat and I think this will be the end of the Southern Strategy; there just aren't enough racially resentful white people to elect a national candidate anymore.

"Also, Mitt lost the election in Ohio four years ago with his ghastly 'Let Detroit Go Bankrupt' article. He only compounded that again in Ohio and also in Wisconsin and Iowa when he brazenly lied about Jeep shipping American jobs to China.

"The GOP needs to face the fact that the US is more diverse and that is not going to change no matter how they whine about it. They also need to stop putting forward candidates whose sole core principle is to do and say anything to further their own ambition at the expense of the truth."